Smart cities

Explore the role of technology and data in cities, and learn how you can participate in the creation of smart cities.

Cities are incubators of innovation and opportunities but they also face great challenges such as rapid urbanisation, climate change and inequality. How can smart cities address these challenges and become more resilient? And what role will people play in the design and planning of our smart cities?

This free online course will help you to navigate your own path through the complex landscape of smart cities. You'll hear from smart city innovators and entrepreneurs, city leaders, communities and business, connecting with learners from around the world to reflect on issues facing smart cities of different sizes and situations.

You'll explore what it's like to live in a smart city, the role of systems thinking, living labs, open data, crowdsourcing and roadmaps. You'll debate challenges of privacy, ethics and security, and weigh up the value of leadership, standards and metrics. You'll learn how to co-create a smart city project where you live.

This course is intended for anyone with an interest in the application of new technologies to city challenges and smart city solutions. It does not require any prior experience of studying the subject.

Enrolling on the course will give you the opportunity to earn an Open University digital badge. Badges are not accredited by The Open University but they're a great way to demonstrate your interest in the subject and commitment to your career, and to provide evidence of continuing professional development.

Once you are signed in, you can manage your digital badges online from My OpenLearn. In addition, you can download and print your OpenLearn statement of participation - which also displays your Open University badge.

The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations of the course. We welcome your feedback and suggestions to improve the experience for other learners.

This OpenLearn science course is produced with the kind support of Dangoor Education, the educational arm of The Exilarch's Foundation.

Learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

describe different approaches to smart city design and delivery using information provided in the case study materials

co-create a smart cities project in a community using a range of tools and techniques

outline key issues with the development of smart cities and discuss personal views on these.

Earn this free Open University digital badge if you complete this course! The badge can be displayed, shared and downloaded as a marker of your achievement.The badge is awarded for completing the course and passing the quizzes.

You can start this course right now without signing-up. Click on any of the course content sections below to start at any point in this course.
If you want to be able to track your progress, earn a free Statement of Participation, and access all course quizzes and activities, sign-up.

Course content

Welcome to this badged open course, Smart cities.The course lasts eight weeks, with approximately three hours of study each week. You can work through the course at your own pace, so if you have more time one week there is no problem with pushing on to complete another week’s study.This course will help you to navigate your own path through the...

Welcome to Week 1 of this free badged open course, Smart cities.‘Smart cities’ is a term used to describe the use of smart technologies and data as the means to solve cities’ sustainability challenges. Many cities are in the process of making themselves smart, using data and technology to improve transport, energy use, health and air qual...

This week you will look at systems thinking in the context of cities and how it can help us to explore wicked problems. You will learn about rich pictures, a type of systems diagram, and have a go at drawing one to identify and explore the challenges your city or community faces.The core elements of a smart cities project or programme will be in...

This week you will explore the role of citizens in the design and planning of smart cities, and you will see how smart cities can be designed to be more inclusive. You’ll hear about design thinking and how to use it to co-create a smart cities project. You’ll also be introduced to living labs and crowdsourcing.You will define your own smart city...

Take a look this week into what smart infrastructure is, and some of the applications of technology, sensors and data. Move your smart cities project another step forward by looking for the types of technology and data that might help address your smart city problem. Lorraine is back to immerse you in the world of smart infrastructure, connected...

Lorraine starts this week with some impressive facts and figures on the smart city market.You’ve seen what smart cities are, why they exist and what makes them successful. But who funds them, and what is the data economy? And have you thought about the ways that data can enable society to participate in tackling major issues through social innov...

In the following video, Lorraine leads you through the critical factors of leadership, partnerships, strategy and standards. With multiple smart city innovations and projects, who is to lead, and on what basis? And which approaches best support innovation and enterprise?Download this video clip.
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This week you’ll learn about standards and their role in the development of smart city strategies, the management of risk and data integration. By examining a smart city readiness tool and a case study on the learning from an existing smart city, you’ll start to explore the issue of capacity building to deliver smart city projects and programmes...

Welcome to the final week. In the following video, Lorraine draws together all that you’ve learned so far and asks how a city’s smartness can be measured and evaluated. What’s the role of learning in a smart city and what types of education initiative enable this for city leaders, businesses and citizens?Download this video clip.
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Copyright information

Creative commons: The Open University is proud to release this free course under a Creative Commons licence.

However, any third-party materials featured within it are used with permission and are not ours to give away. These
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Full copyright details can be found in the Acknowledgements section of each week.

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